The Blog

Vacant stores and their hoardings are unsightly in shopping centres.  Many Marketing Managers cover these up with ‘New Store Opening Here Soon’ signage, promotional signage or generic retail images.  Today I’d like to share with you three calls to action which you could use, to put this vacant canvas to good use by encouraging your customers to connect with your shopping centre Facebook page.

1. Find Out Who’s Opening Here Soon, Like us on Facebook!

In regional areas shopping centres are the ‘talk of the town’.   Hoardings could be used to encourage customers to connect with the shopping centre on Facebook in order to find out ‘Top Secret’ information. For example, a shopping centre could divulge clues about a new retailer opening up or reveal the information via a fan gate feature.    Facebook fans love feeling like they’re receiving genuine exclusive information before everyone else.

2. Like us on Facebook and Tell us Which Retailer You’d Like to Open Here Soon!

In some instances a hoarding will go up on a shop front before a new tenant can be secured.  This is the perfect opportunity to source ideas from your existing customers and encourage them to start the conversation on Facebook. Simply asking your customers to connect on Facebook is easy, however opening up the lines of communication and encouraging them to take part in finding the next retailer shows that you value their opinion.  You might be surprised by the ideas that your customers come up with and you can gather some great statistics to show prospective tenants.

3. Like us on Facebook For Your Chance to Win!

Running a Facebook competition to gain new fans is not a new concept, neither is working with new store owners to generate buzz and excitement about a new store opening. The difference now is that you have the opportunity to use the hoarding to encourage viral word of mouth by simply running a Facebook competition to win a prize which compliments the new retail offer. If the prize is specific to the store that is opening the information collected from entries could be used to build a targeted list of customers.  When the new store finally opens these key customer segments can be notified or invited to a VIP launch event.

Now it’s over to you:  How are you using vacant shops, hoardings or other areas in your shopping centre to encourage your existing customers to like or interact you on Facebook/social media? If you have photos or examples I’d love to see them so feel free to make a comment below or email me directly and I can upload the photos for other Marketing Managers to see.

Author: Celina Johnson, iSocialize